JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE December 2016 New Year issue | Page 60

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infections, chronic fatigue, dizziness, and loss of sleep.
Formaldehyde may be used in personal care products as a
disinfectant, germicide, fungicide and preservative. It can
be found in soaps, shampoos, hair preparations,
deodorants, lotions, shaving cream and mouthwash. it is
also used in nail products, specifically as a nail hardening
agent, and is one of the "toxic trio" targetted for
elimination from nail polish and removers by the
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It has also been found in
high concentrations in certain hair straightening products.
Formaldehyde may also be released when the
preservatives, DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea and
imidiazolidinyl urea are present in products, as discussed
above.
Fragrance - Synthetic fragrance is the most common
ingredient found on the label of personal care products.
The generic terms, "fragrance" or "parfum", can indicate
the presence of up to 3,000 separate ingredients. Most or
all of them are synthetic. Fragrance is a sensitizer and a
known trigger of asthma. Symptoms reported to the FDA
have included headaches, dizziness, rashes, skin
discoloration, violent coughing and vomiting, and allergic
skin irritation. A test of fragrance products by the
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, "Not So Sexy", found that
perfumes contained an average of 10 known sensitizing
chemicals, which can trigger allergic reactions such as
asthma, wheezing, headaches, and contact dermatitis. In
60 | P a g e : J O Y F E E L I N G S !